TYLER KEPNER started covering baseball as a teenager, interviewing players for a homemade magazine that was featured in The New York Times in 1989. He attended Vanderbilt University on the Grantland Rice/Fred Russell sportswriting scholarship, then covered the Angels for the Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) and the Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He joined The New York Times in 2000, covering the Mets for two seasons, the Yankees for eight, and serving as the national baseball writer since 2010.
"Tyler Kepner knows his stuff—by which I mean the plethora of
possible assaults on the strike zone that have created the modern
game: splitters, spitters, sinkers, sliders. It’s all here: Cy
Young’s whistler; Sandy Koufax’s 12-to-6 curve; the fadeaway that
made Matty famous before it became a screwball and revived Warren
Spahn’s career. K is an education in the history, mechanics
and language of pitching and as rich with detail as the craft it
describes. This is inside baseball at its best. A must read for any
fan who aspires to be in the know."
--Jane Leavy, New York Times bestselling author of Sandy Koufax: A
Lefty’s Legacy and The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He
Created
“There has been so much good writing on the subject of baseball
that you sometimes wonder if there can be a fresh way to go about
it. But Tyler Kepner turns the trick. Analytical and anecdotal,
insightful and entertaining, K is a welcome addition to
the baseball bookshelf.”
--Bob Costas
"[An] instant classic. . .[Kepner] deftly weaves all these voices
into a seamless narrative. . .K is even better than I'd hoped, and
I suspect it will now take its place on all the lists of essential
baseball books."
--Rob Neyer, Casey Award-winning author of Powerball: Anatomy of a
Modern Baseball Game
“Kepner, the national baseball writer for The New York Times,
has chosen a nifty conceit. He’s organized his history of the game
around the 10 major types of pitches ... The result is a
fascinating tour of the sport as seen from the mound.”
-- Robert Birnbaum, The Washington Post
“No one celebrates the details of the game quite like Kepner,
The New York Times baseball columnist, and for him to deconstruct
the sport down to its most crucial yet arcane element — the art of
pitching — is like Michelangelo explaining the brush strokes on the
Sistine Chapel.”
-- David Lennon, Newsday
“You will love every single word of “K: A History of Baseball in
Ten Pitches,”. . .I’ve never read a better love letter to the
sport.”
-- Mike Vaccaro, The New York Post
“Make sure you pick up “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” by
Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. Kepner, a former Globe intern,
is the best baseball read in American newspapers today.”
-- Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe
"Kepner puts a new spin on baseball's history that will have even
the most avid fans entertained as they learn something new in each
chapter."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review
“For decades as a catcher and broadcaster, I’ve been fascinated by
the craft of pitching. Tyler Kepner brings the pitchers—and the
pitches—alive as few others ever have, with a fresh and informative
trip through the history of the great American game.”
–Tim McCarver, Hall of Fame broadcaster and two-time All-Star and
World Series champion
"A gripping tour through the most elemental component of
baseball... Kepner has worked magic."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"I've been a student of pitching for more than 40 years, and Tyler
Kepner has captured the essence of the craft with fascinating
stories and insights on every page."
--Orel Hershiser, 1988 National League Cy Young winner and World
Series MVP
“I never expected to learn so much about events I've covered and
people I've known for years. With lively stories from first page to
last, Tyler Kepner brilliantly traces the evolution of each
pitch in gripping detail, from the earliest days of baseball
through today. If you love baseball, you'll gain a whole new
understanding of the game.”
--Joe Buck, Emmy Award-winning broadcaster for Fox Sports
"One of baseball's enchanting oddities is that the action begins
with a member of the defense holding the ball. Tyler Kepner has
written a mind-opening explanation of what happens next. Chock-full
of anecdotes and insights, his book is a masterful dissection of
the art at the heart of the game."
--George F. Will, author of Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball
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